What exactly does "busy" really mean?

What exactly does "busy" really mean?

Bill Wagner bwagner at digprod.com
Mon Aug 26 11:05:17 EDT 1996


     I guess I don't see the problem. Busy is defined in the MIB as 
     "Busy / Temporarily Unavailable - The printer or sub-unit is
        operational but currently occupied with a request for activity. The
        sub-unit will become available without the need of human 
        interaction."
     
     The observation that "Busy means that the printer or sub-unit is not 
     able to accept print jobs for some period of time." appears to be an 
     interpretation of the MIB statement (and not one which I would suggest 
     be added to the MIB.
     
     An analogy, which Jay asked for, is perhaps most simply the telephone 
     busy signal. The phone line is probably in good working order, it is 
     in use, it cannopt handle my request for connection at this time, I 
     don't need to do anything to make it not busy, but I ought to try      
     again later. 
     
     What we have established, quite clearly, is that busy as a unit or 
     subunit status is not the same as the state represented by the 
     interface Busy signal (such as with 1284).
     
     Bill Wagner, DPI.
     
     
     
     ______________________________ Reply Separator 
     _________________________________
     Subject: What exactly does "busy" really mean?
Author:  jkm at underscore.com (JK Martin) at Internet
Date:    8/24/96 4:55 PM




Ron Bergman, in response to a previous message from Tom Hastings, wrote:


> > | Busy means that the printer or sub-unit is not able to accept print
> > | jobs for some period of time.
> 
> There already is a definition for "Busy" in 2.2.13.2.  Is this 
> sentence to replace the present definition or added to it?


The definition of "busy" is getting stranger and stranger by the minute.
Exactly how is a software developer supposed to interpret the concept of
"busy"?


Can someone offer a concrete metaphor or similar analogy for how one is
supposed to interpret "busy"?


        ...jay



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